The eloquent participants for District 80 International Speech Contest!
A battle of wits, speed and coherence - Table Topics Contestants - Men of Substance!
Salsa Dancing at Closing Ceremony
Farewell Buffet Lunch. With 2nd Runner-up of Table Topics Contest, Saengchai Lee from Thailand.
I had planned to wake up at 6.00a.m. so that I could reach Suntec City by 7.00a.m. Instead, horror upon horrors, I woke up at 5 mins to 8a.m.! I sprang up, and like lightning, I was all dressed up in 5 mins. I grabbed my bags and dashed down the 5 flights of stairs onto Racecourse Road to hail for a cab. Funny how cabs don't seem to be around when you need them! I managed to reach the Theatre at 8.15a.m. and luckily found a vacant seat on the 5th row. Whew! I would never miss the highlight of the Convention - District 80 International Speech and Table Topics Contest - where the cream of champions from Singapore, Hongkong, Macau and Thailand would meet! As Ed Hearn had said, all the contestants are already winners for they have the courage to try! During the break, we all had a difficult time guessing the winners for all of them are excellent speakers!
The question for Table Topics Contest was "Are You Smart Enough?" I had never heard such excellent and profound answers to such a simple question from one of the contestants whom I thought might garner the first prize! But instead he came in first runner up! I guess there is always that little element of subjectivity in judging. Our hearts went to one contestant from Hongkong who had misheard the word smart to be small. How I wished he had verified with the Contest Chair if he was not sure of the pronunciation! Saengchai Lee from Thailand began with, "At first I thought the question asked me if I was small enough." He must be puzzled by the thunderous applause! Then he continued, "Look at my size and you get the answer!" "Since the question is "Are you smart enough? Yes, I am".
The audience laughed. Thai is his mother tongue and he only picked up some English in High School. It was not enough for he had to study on his own after high school. He was witty and charming...and ended with, "I now have a group of people working for me. Hence, now I am smarter than smart".
Can I imagine myself up there on stage in future? I had only won two champion prizes at Area level during my first year as a club member. It definitely takes a lot of courage and hard work to reach District and International Levels. I take my hat off to all these young contestants on stage! You have so many years before you to work hard and become an international champion. We certainly hope that one day, there will be an International Speech contest winner from District 80! Ed Hearn believes that we can make it if we don't give up!
Cheers to all toastmasters from District 80! Let us all work hard and continue to have the courage to try and try and try!
Thanks to Tay Ying Ping and Michael Rodrigues and their team for putting up a wonderful convention that is really MAD - Memorable, Alluring and Amazing and full of Dynamite!
Gan Chau
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